The jurisdiction, i.e. the country or head office where the VPN provider is based, is a crucial parameter in terms of its reliability.
The best jurisdictions are in countries that have very strict privacy and confidentiality laws.
States where the government does not enforce mandatory data retention, which by definition excludes all countries that are part of the 5 eyes alliance.
To summarize, there are 3 key parameters to determine the best jurisdictions for a VPN provider:
1. Best privacy laws.
2. Countries with the least agreement with Western governments and the 5, 9 and 14 eyes alliance.
3. Countries with the least financial resources to spend on large-scale surveillance.